Ashville/Hendersonville, NC

[albionmoonlight]

I actually have two questions:

1. We are staying in Hendersonville for a couple of days/nights with a small child. We are interested in finding some places in both Hendersonville and Asheville that (a) have good food, and (b) don't mind/like kids being there. Please answer quickly if you see this in time; I forgot to post until today and we are leaving tomorrow!

[albionmoonlight]

Oh, the second question was, does Mountain Smokehouse Barbecue still exist in Asheville? I have seen references to it, but the phone number doesn't work.

[slkinsey]

I've spent plenty of time in the area over the years. It's a bit difficult to make recommendations without knowing (i) what style of food you're looking for, at what level of formality; and (ii) how small the child is, plus how well-behaved and accustomed to these settings (I know kids who were spending time in NYT 4-star restaurants from the time they were infants).

One thing I can say with certainty is that the mountain area of Western North Carolina is not a "traditional barbecue region" despite being in North Carolina. "Western style" North Carolina barbecue really refers to central NC. The mountains are country ham territory. Which is to say that it seems unlikely there will be barbecue in Asheville deserving a special trip.